Hi Everyone, i got given this as a Easter Present Yesterday and wondered if you had any hint or tips you could give me It says its a Ligustrum. I have been keeping it on a window sill during the day which faces south.







thanks in advance
Mark

Nice tree, Mark!

Ligustrum is an outside plant and it should be outside for the year round. At least, in the A,C and D climate (köppen).
Could you provide us your location, so we can determine the circumstances you can/should keep it in?
It should be kept in a milieu about the same as its native area (Europe, North-Africa, Asia and Australasia).

Good luck and have lots of fun with your soon-to-be-bonsai!

Contrainer wrote:

your soon-to-be-bonsai!

I'm in Scotland.

what do you mean "soon to be bonsai"

Contrainer wrote:

Ligustrum is an outside plant

Yes. ALL plants are outdoor plant.

Contrainer wrote:

and it should be outside for the year round. At least, in the A,C and D climate (köppen).

This depends on which species of ligustrum you have. As far as I know, some of the species used in Bonsai are not completely frost-resistent and are beest offered protection from deep frosts.

As for advice what to do with this plant.. It looks like it needs a quite drastic thinning of the branches to create a structured canopy. But I am sure you have seen that already. For now, I would check the rootbal (What soil is it in, are the roots healthy) and -as it is springtime- consider repotting in a suitable soil if needed. Then just care for it for the next few months.

Oops, my bad guys..

I often thing about multiple things at the time, and sometimes that screws up..
This also got mixed up, I meant 'bonsai', not 'soon-to-be-bonsai'. Soon-to-be-bonsai was for something else..
I'm sorry for the confusion

I would say chinese privet=indoors. Somewhere there is going to be an ugly chop mark and the branches go back on themselves. It will take a while, definitely.

Contrainer wrote:

Oops, my bad guys..

I often thing about multiple things at the time, and sometimes that screws up..
This also got mixed up, I meant 'bonsai', not 'soon-to-be-bonsai'. Soon-to-be-bonsai was for something else..
I'm sorry for the confusion

I think Auk had a problem with the word "soon". Stricktly speaking this is a cutting with branches that one could train to become a bonsai. However, if you take a strict interpretation of bonsai, this will take 5 years to a decade to achieve 'bonsaihood'

Thanks for the reply Leatherback I'll check the roots when i get home tonight, Should i leave the Tree to adjust to its new environment for a few weeks before repotting or should i just go ahead and do it, if it is required??

can i ask you what do you mean about creating a structured canopy, by thinning the branches ?

in bonsai, the canopy is not made up out of an unruly mass of branches. Rather, each branch has it's own space, and they do not mix. Effectively, the same is trees in nature .

Have a carefull look at this pic bonsaibark.com/wp-content/uploads/mariobark1.jpg to see how the branches each serve a specific part of the canopy, and they virtually do not compete for space. That is what you need to work towards. A process of years.

As for repotting.. Assuming it is sprintime where you are too.. I would go for it (Ideally with someone who knows the how-to: Repotting in a wrong way kills trees)